Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates to a power supply and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to a power supply including a bi-directional converter and a control method thereof.
Description of the Related Art
Portable electronic devices, such as mobile phones and wearable electronic devices (for example, head mounted displays), are widely used. The portable electronic devices have larger power consumption while having more and more powerful functions. Using time of a portable electronic device is limited by its battery capacity, which may lead to poor user experience. A mobile power supply has both the functions of charging and supplying power, and may be an auxiliary power supply of the portable electronic device. The mobile power supply typically includes a power supply circuit in addition with a battery (for example, a lithium ion battery).
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a power supply circuit in a mobile power supply according to the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile power supply includes a power supply circuit and a battery 103. The power supply circuit includes a charging circuit 104 and a switching circuit 105. The battery 103 is electrically coupled in series between the charging circuit 104 and the switching circuit 105. The charging circuit 104 is further electrically coupled to an external power source 101. The switching circuit 105 is further electrically coupled to a load 102. In a normal operating state, an input terminal of the charging circuit 104 is electrically coupled to the external power source 101, so that the external power source 101 charges the battery 103 through the charging circuit 104, while supplying power to the load 102 through the switching circuit 105. In a case that the input terminal of the charging circuit 104 is not electrically coupled to the external power source 101, the battery 103 supplies power to the load 102.
In the above power supply circuit according to the prior art, the battery 103 is electrically coupled in series between the charging circuit 104 and the switching circuit 105. Consequently, the charging circuit 104 and the switching circuit 105 must be integrated into different semiconductor chips. The mobile power supply will have two or more semiconductor chips, which leads to complex circuit structure and has reliability issues due to external electrical connections.